Saturday, October 30, 2010

GO ARDEN ARCADE. Neighborhoods that have incorporated have taken control of their destinies and improved conditions for their residents, as Citrus Heights (1997), Elk Grove (2000), and Rancho Cordova (2003) have done. No doubt, tough economic times will continue, but if a new city can bring a sense of law and certainty to the community, there will be an economic revival to the area that will improve the condition of the neighborhood and increased revenues will follow, just as happened with Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, and Rancho Cordova.

Nor would this shortchange the County for business tax revenue, so long as the County makes a hard (but fair) "revenue neutrality" payments bargain. For years, the area has subsidized much of the county anyway, but will be paying a neutrality agreement for years down the road to make sure that Arden Arcade does not leave the county short.

Sacramento County is just about the only county in the state with such a large urbanized population in unincorporated areas. The counties make perfect sense for implementing state programs, for the courts, and for local services in unincorporated areas that are just sparsely populated farms and ranches. It's only when the unincorporated areas turn into densely populated cities and suburbs that the county government becomes too unwieldy and not responsive enough.

Empirically, I remember Citrus Heights when nearly all of what was Birdcage Walk and much of Sunrise Mall was vacant and boarded up. Now that shopping area is thriving. This in an area that was "built out" with little or no vacant space, just like Arden Arcade. That tends to happen when you have neighborhood officials just a little way down Greenback Lane who give a damn, as opposed to county supervisors who, no matter how well intentioned, are busy enough with the courts and other countywide services.

Above all, I am disgusted with the rather lame arguments and claims of incorporation opponents! When you go to the "Stay Sacramento" website, all they do is cite how incorporated cities like Bell and Maywood, down in LA County, are badly run. Gee, that happens when a city is full of illegal aliens, who are either too busy trying to make an underground living and are accustomed to rampant corruption, rather than USA citizens who are more likely to give a damn and much less likely to accept rampant corruption. Other lame arguments against Measure D include the following:

"No City of Arden Arcade. Less government means less government."

I hear otherwise right-thinking citizens who parrot this as a reason to oppose Arden Arcade incorporation, forgetting entirely that *more local* government is less government. Federalism wept.

"Arden-Arcade is a really stupid name for a city."

As opposed to Elk Grove? Or Rancho Cordova? Or Citrus Heights? If the adjacent neighborhood of Carmichael had joined in, they could have called the whole new city "Carmichael."

"There are too many people lined up to run for office if D passes. It makes one suspicious that the whole thing is a power grab."

And they are volunteers with tiny stipends. How dangerous for people to care about their neighborhood and want to improve it by incorporating!

"Pro Measure D people use scare tactics that Sacramento City wants to gobble up and incorporate Arden-Arcade. This is bogus, since both residents of Sacramento and Arden-Arcade would have to support that... which won't happen."

That is absolutely FALSE. Voter approval of annexation is not required. State law allows a city to annex portions of the county upon a mere vote of the council and petition to LAFCo that includes a revenue neutrality study (which is already done).

In fact, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn proposed to the city council that they allow residents to vote on annexation, and the only reason it didn't happen is because the City Council struck down that idea, fearing more conservative Arden Arcadians would upset their lefty liberal city.

Friday, October 29, 2010

For all its sweeping and scary provisions, ObamaCare is not nearly as important as the way it was passed. If legislation can become laws passed without either the public or the Congress knowing what is in those laws, then the fundamental principle of a free, self-governing people is completely undermined.

Some members of Congress who voted for ObamaCare, and who are now telling us that they realize this legislation has flaws which they intend to correct, are missing the point.

The very reason for holding hearings on pending legislation, listening to witnesses on all sides of the issue, and having Congressional debates that will be reported and commented on in the media, is so that problems can be explored and alternatives considered before the legislation is voted into law.

Rushing ObamaCare into law too fast for anyone to have read it served no other purpose than to prevent this very process from taking place. The rush to pass this law that would not take effect until after the next two elections simply cut the voters out of the loop-- and that is painfully close to ruling by decree.

Other actions and proposals by this administration likewise represent moves in the direction of arbitrary rule, worthy of a banana republic, with only a mocking facade of freedom.

These include threats against people who simply choose to express opinions counter to administration policy, such as a warning to an insurance company that there would be "zero tolerance" for "misinformation" when the insurance company said that ObamaCare would create costs that force up premiums.

Zero tolerance for the right of free speech guaranteed by the Constitution?

This warning comes from an administration with arbitrary powers that can impose ruinous costs on a given business.

Those who are constantly telling us that our economic problems are caused by not enough "regulation" never distinguish between regulation which simply enforces known rules, as contrasted with regulation that gives arbitrary powers to the government to force others to knuckle under to demands that have nothing to do with the ostensible purposes of the regulation.

As more businesses reveal that they are considering no longer buying health insurance for their employees, as a result of higher costs resulting from ObamaCare legislation, the administration has announced that it can grant waivers that reduce these costs.

But the power to grant waivers is the power to withhold waivers-- an arbitrary power that can impose millions of dollars in costs on businesses that the administration doesn't like.

Recent proposals from the Obama administration to force disclosure of the names of people who sponsor election ads would likewise open all who disagree with Obama to retaliation by the government itself, as well as by community activists and others.

History tells us where giving government one arbitrary power after another leads. It is like going into a Venus fly-trap, which is easy to enter and nearly impossible to get out of.

Friday, October 01, 2010

So Gloria Allred (how aptly named) is up to her usual stunts. But once and hopefully not future Governor Moonbeam needed help, and here she comes, with Meg's illegal alien ex-maid.

Oh puhleeze. Meg Whitman Found Out Her Maid Was Illegal And Very Properly Fired Her, So It's Like A Big Scandal We Should All Be Upset About Or Something!!! OMG! Unfortunately for the illegal and Allred even the Lamestream media had to admit that the illegal lied when she applied for the job, and Whitman fired her when she admitted that. Falsifying information and providing a fake S.S. number are crimes, just like being here illegally.

Whitman played it straight. But hey, that's the beauty of the Catch-22. If Whitman had been super diligent in investigating her maid's background, then she would be--gasp--racial profiling.

This is the Demunist trick of damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if -you-don't. Small wonder businesses flee the state, and now the nation in droves.

Evil Republicans! Your candidates comply with the law when apprised of being out of compliance with it!!

Why can't you just flout the law all the time like the Demunists do? The media will cover for you, right? Oh, wait.....

Expect multiple stories of mass Republican jaywalking and sidewalk-spitting to follow. Rumor has it that Meg Whitman, at night, in her pajamas, drinks directly out of the milk carton without using a glass and puts it back in the fridge.